botlfandomcom-20200214-history
The Silencing of the Eternal Dirge
The Silencing of the Eternal Dirge was a campaign undertaken by the Lightning Bearers in the far south of Terra, during the late Unification Wars. It saw the Warp-cult of Veregav destroyed. War in the Frozen South When the Imperium first began to take form, it did so on a world torn between a host of depraved and murderous cults and techno-barbarian tribes. In Orioc, at the southern extreme of Terra, lay one of the worst. From the darkness of Old Night came the Cult of Rapture, a society of human blood mages and gene-grotesques who revelled in the ritualised slaughter of millions. Over centuries the Cult subjugated the southern Polar Region of Terra, enslaving entire generations of that once prosperous region. The Cult was comprised of more than the petty tyrants all too common across Terra at that time. They were instead, an organised religion, exulting the abhorrent mutations of the Psyker and worshiping dark and ancient false gods. Each day, hundreds of innocents were sacrificed to feed the bottomless hunger of their warlocks, creating in the process a great psychic malignancy afflicting the region known as the Eternal Dirge, a reality-bending affront to the natural order of the universe, both twisting the perception of those enslaved and guiding those who abased themselves to the abhorrent cult. Wherever the Cult’s grotesques were lead by the Dirge, a grisly pogrom was enacted to cull hundreds in order to strengthen their enclave and sustain the song which fueled them. Until the coming of the Emperor. As Unity slowly began to encompass Terra, the Emperor turned his attention to the Crystal Fortress of the Cult, the diseased seat of the ritualised power. Every effort of the Emperor's mortal soldiers and gene-crafted Thunder Warriors to pacify the polar region had met with disaster. More often than not, entire armies were enthralled by the Dirge and turned back to cruelly assail their fellows. The Emperor had foreseen the perils of Warpcraft as a threat to his designs and turned to his Ist Legion for the region's deliverance. While all Space Marines had been crafted to serve as the Emperor's greatest warriors, the Ist Legion had been created with a further specialisation in mind. To combat the malignancy of rogue psykers and the repugnancy of Warpcraft, the Emperor had looked to creating warriors in His own image. The wider Legiones Astartes were all meant to reflect aspects of the Emperor, to become embodiments of His might, the Ist Legion, however, had been crafted at the genetic level to reflect a shard of the Emperor's psychic might. While it is true that many Legions contained warriors proficient in the use of psychic powers, indeed some legions where psychic power was relatively common place, no Legion shared the innate and widespread psychic proficiency that became manifest within the First. This genetic propensity towards unlocking humanities psychic potential was further expanded by the Emperor's focused efforts to recruit children with noteworthy and controlled psychic talents into the Ist Legion. At the time, the nascent legion was comprised of five Chapters, and five Chapters would be deployed by the Emperor's command to eliminate this metaphysical threat. To counter the cult's ability to enthrall its enemies, each Ist Legion Astartes was given a jewel to wear. Called a tama, these spherical crystals were constructed from a rare kind of rose quartz that was naturally sensitive to the Warp's touch. Any Lightning Bearer who failed to resist the Dirge, their tama would darken with corruption. Additionally, the day before the planned invasion was entirely spent in meditation, honing their mental defences to perfection. The First Legion attacked. Overconfident in the Eternal Dirge's ability to corrupt their enemies, the six Divines neglected their defences. Instead of amassing their might to overwhelm the invaders, they sent only small mobs led by psykers of lesser power and favour within the cult. These forces were merely to slow down the Lightning Bearers' advance long enough for the song to take hold of their souls. Although zealous in their twisted faith, the cultists died quickly in these skirmishes, while their psykers found themselves outmatched by the psychic strength of the First. With battlefield casualties light, Korvost Sahaal, Legion Master of the First, focused his attention on the spiritual fortitude of his marines. While there was no escaping the Eternal Dirge's music, most of the Lightning Bearers resisted its insidious effects. The few who were threatened by its touch were quickly evacuated outside of the Dirge's range to recover and to reinforce the legion later. Thus, three days passed in this manner as the Emperor's chosen legion steadily made their way to the cult's capital, their casualties negligible. It was only on the fourth day that the Divines truly became alert to the blade approaching their throats. Enraged by the First's perseverance, the Divines gathered their strength and plotted to crush the legionnaires between a dual flanking attack with two Divines leading the assaults. It was then that the First Legion revealed their hidden weapon: divination. While able to perform most of the psychic disciplines, even in this early era, the First's battle-psykers naturally gravitated to sight beyond sight, perhaps an early indication of Icarion's nature. Before the Divines had planned their retribution, Sahaal was already aware of their course. To counter the approaching cultic assault, Sahaal completely went against standard military doctrine and divided his heavily-outnumbered force into three smaller detachments. The Northern strike force under Captain Zso Ise would counter the Divine known as Fastus. Divine Fastus was an arrogant man who advanced his forces without care, already dreaming of his newest victory over the Emperor's forces. Captain Ise set up a series of brilliant ambushes that crippled the cult army, even though the legionnaires were outnumbered over 100-to-1. The enemy army further suffered as Fastus enacted cruel executions of his own officer corps, blaming them for his failures. To the South, Captain Steban Tasater would challenge Divine Gula's army. Unlike the haughty Fastus, Gula chose a more cautious approach, wary of the legion's progress. Since ambushes would be ineffective against a more aware enemy commander, Tasater unleashed a series of daring raids, targeting the cult's psyker contingent. Although losing a third of his number, Captain Tasater paralyzed Gula's army as the Divine foolishly held position, trying in vain to discern the next attack. Finally, Sahaal took the smallest command. Loading his few squads into his only Warhawk Class Stormbird, Sahaal made his most dangerous move: an aerial assault against the Crystal Fortress. Never dreaming of an attack comprised of so little, the remaining Divines were caught completely off-guard when the lone Stormbird entered their air space. With surprised secured by the First Legion, Sahaal opened fire on the Divines' level of the fortress, clearing a landing zone before he and his legionnaires stormed the palace. Unable to rally more cultists to their side, the four Divines and their bodyguards died quickly. The physical head of the cult dead, Sahaal turned his attention to his true target: the Dirge. Standing at the source, the Dirge played havoc with Sahaal's warriors as the first ones began to succumb to its power. With not enough time to safely evacuate, Sahaal was forced to execute each warrior that failed to maintain their mental defences, even as he sought to end the Dirge itself. The legionnaires had brought a small supply of melta-bombs and attached these weapons to the fortress' load-bearing pillars. All the while, the small strike force shrinking as Astartes were overwhelmed by the corruption of the Dirge. When the last melta-bomb was deployed, Sahaal gathered his survivors and returned to the Warhawk pattern Stormbird. Only when they were safely above ground did Sahaal detonated the charges. Catastrophic explosions ripped through the Crystal Fortress, causing it to collapse into itself. As the dust settled, the infernal Dirge was finally silenced. All across the continent, the cult died in chaos as men and women were freed from its evil and resisted the diehard cultists. The twin armies of Divine Fastus and Divine Gula disintegrated when the Dirge stopped, both Divines savagely murdered by their own men before the two armies scattered to the four winds. Returning to his legion with only nine marines, Korvost Sahaal was hailed as the Imperium's first hero to hearken from the Legiones Astartes. Category:Unification Wars